Public relations for the bereaved

Public Relations Review 41 (2015) 293–295

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Research in Brief

Public relations for the bereaved: Online interactions in a

community for stillbirth and neonatal death charity

Roxana Maiorescu∗

Emerson College, Department of Marketing Communication, 120 Boylston St., Boston, MA 02116, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 2 August 2014

Received in revised form

14 November 2014

Accepted 20 November 2014

Keywords:

Online communities

Public relations

Nonprofit organizations

Social media

Stillbirth

a b s t r a c t

This paper uses the case of the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (SANDS) in the UK and

assesses its use of social media. The results reveal that SANDS engages in one-way commu￾nicationandfails to take full advantage ofthepotential oftheWeb 2.0 to increase awareness,

raise funds, and break the taboo around stillbirth and neonatal death. The results can be

used to improve SANDS’ online communication and can be applied by similar nonprofits in

the UK.

© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

According to SANDS’ website, UK is dealing with the highest rate of stillbirths and neonatal deaths from among the

developed countries in Europe and loses eleven babies daily. Nonprofits like SANDS bear the responsibility to not only raise

funds, but to also engender dialog that will break the taboo and make stillbirth and neonatal death be perceived as less of

an anomaly. Social media provide a venue that nonprofits can use to create online communities (Briones, Kuch, Fisher Liu, &

Jin, 2011; Warisse Turner, Grube, & Meyers, 2001; Waters & Jamal, 2011) where those affected by stillbirth can share similar

stories, find comfort, and help to spread awareness and raise funds via the web’s interactivity. Formed around a common

interest, (Tao, 2011) online communities are currently used by half of the internet users around the world (Tao, 2011, p.67)

and have the potential to trigger relationship building and maintaining, a primary function of the public relations practice.

In this study, I contend that SANDS can develop a strong online community if it communicates around emotional sup￾port. Therefore,the organization’s online communication was assessed by determining the presence oftwo constructs drawn

from interpersonal communication theory, namely encouragement and respect (Burleson, 2013; Rogers, 1957). In addition,

the study assessed the close bonds among the members of SANDS’ online community by coding for the presence of inti￾macy (revealing intimate information), closeness (the display of familiarity with another user), and care (Burleson, 2013).

Therefore, based on the literature review on the nonprofit use of social media, this study asked: (1) how often SANDS com￾municated encouragement and respect, and (2) how often the community members’ communication displayed intimacy,

closeness, and care.

∗ Tel.: +1 540 267 5783.

E-mail address: roxana [email protected]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.11.015

0363-8111/© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.